Scottish Executive

Asthma

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to the recent Asthma UK report Living on a knife edge  that highlights the serious impact asthma can have on people’s lives and outline how its policies will enable people with asthma to receive the care that they need.

Malcolm Chisholm: The report vividly demonstrates the effects asthma can have on people’s lives and will helpfully inform policy development in this important field. Measures currently underway in Scotland, which address asthma issues, include:

  the new GP contract which includes asthma as a condition that will attract extra remuneration for doctors where set standards of care are met;

  the establishment of a children’s steering group by Quality Improvement Scotland, including the Child Health Support Group, which will identify a work programme for children’s services in Scotland and include asthma as a pilot for developing a quality-based approach to the delivery of services;

  GP practice accreditation procedures for the management of chronic diseases, including asthma. The intention is that all practices should be accredited by the end of 2004;

  the funding of nine asthma-related research projects by the Chief Scientist Office;

  the proposed Community Health Partnerships which will have a particular focus on delivering improvements in the management of chronic conditions, and

  efforts to increase smoke-free places will also benefit people with asthma – a major public consultation on how best to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke will begin shortly.

Care of Elderly People

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications for the future provision of care services for the elderly will be of the new population figures projected by Her Majesty's Government Actuary's Department and what action it will take as a result.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive is aware of the projected population figures and is considering the implications.

Care of Elderly People

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce means-testing for free personal care for the elderly and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Mr Tom McCabe: There are no plans to introduce means testing for free personal care for older people. The existing policy has been in place for less than two years and the Executive is still monitoring its operation.

Care of Elderly People

John Swinburne (Central Scotland) (SSCUP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to provide an additional £111 million to meet the needs of current care home provision, as requested by local authorities.

Mr Tom McCabe: Local authorities have submitted a case to increase care home fee levels under Spending Review 2004. Decisions following the review will be made in the autumn.

Children

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are allergic to, or affected adversely by, E-numbers in food and drink.

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when they were reacting adversely to E-numbers contained in food and drink in each year since 1999.

Malcolm Chisholm: The specific information requested is not available centrally.

Children

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are tested for any allergy to E-numbers before being prescribed any medication.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Guideline 52 on "Attention Deficit and Hyperkinetic Disorders in Children and Young People" provides clinicians with advice on the diagnostic criteria and assessments for ADHD. It is for clinicians to determine the most appropriate tests for individual patients.

  The guideline can be accessed at www.sign.ac.uk.

Children

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any records are kept of children who have been excluded from school because of behaviour problems that may be linked to an allergy to E-numbers.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive does not keep records of children who are excluded because of behaviour problems linked to food additive allergies.

Children

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has conducted any surveys into the causes, including (a) allergies to E-numbers and (b) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, of behavioural problems in schools.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive is undertaking a range of research initiatives to inform policy making on behaviour in schools. The Scottish Executive Education Department and Health Departments also work closely together to learn from the findings of research and assess its relevance in different contexts.

  The Chief Scientist’s Office is currently funding one research project on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) through the NHS Programme Support Grant, which will investigate whether chronic treatment with methylphenidate in boys with ADHD leads to sensitisation or tolerance. The National Research Register, a UK wide research database, records that there are 11 on-going research projects in the UK on ADHD and two completed research projects on whether food additives cause hyperactivity in children.

Common Agricultural Policy

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to discuss potential changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regarding dairy farming in the light of the accession of the 10 new member states to the European Union with (a) the farming community, (b) the retail sector, (c) Her Majesty’s Government and (d) the European Parliament.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is not aware of any potential changes to the CAP dairy regime following the accession of the new member states. The CAP agreement reached in Luxembourg in June 2003 took account of enlargement and has yet to be fully implemented.

  In the longer term, the Executive will continue work with all relevant parties to ensure that the interests of Scottish dairy farmers are recognised in any future review of the CAP dairy arrangements.

Disclosure Scotland

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much Disclosure Scotland is in excess of its service level agreement timescale for processing criminal history checks and whether the Executive is taking any steps to address this issue.

Cathy Jamieson: The latest available statistics for week-ending 9 May 2004 show that, for correctly completed applications, the average time taken by Disclosure Scotland to process and issue an Enhanced or Standard Disclosure certificate was 14 calendar days from the date of the application being received. This is in line with the service level agreement for Standard and Enhanced Certificates. Basic Disclosures were taking 21 days on average to deal with.

  To assist with the improvement in performance at Disclosure Scotland we authorised the recruitment of additional staff for application processing and call handling duties. Additional staff are now also being assigned to error-sorting duties. We will continue to work closely with Disclosure Scotland to ensure that the improved performance is sustained.

Dyslexia

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the Dyslexia Friendly Schools Award, as piloted in East Renfrewshire, and whether it will support the roll-out of this system of parent-led school accreditation across Scotland.

Peter Peacock: I recently visited Dyslexia Scotwest who developed the Dyslexia Friendly Schools Award. I was impressed by what I saw and learned and I am considering what I can do to encourage the approach being applied more widely.

Education

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are of devolved school management on teacher recruitment policies in relation to shortages in specified subjects.

Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-7297 on 27 April 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search.

Education

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to assess the level of foreign language teaching, particularly in European languages.

Peter Peacock: Education authorities evaluate the quality of learning and teaching in all subjects in their schools. In addition to this, evaluations of foreign language teaching are made in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education’s (HMIE) on-going inspection programme in primary and secondary schools and are included in published reports.

  In terms of quantity, in July 2002 the Scottish Executive Education Department commissioned HMIE to evaluate the amount of modern languages learning and teaching in education authority schools. The report of the findings of this evaluation is due in summer 2004.

Education

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what public support is made available to encourage pupils and students to travel overseas for the purpose of learning foreign languages, particularly European languages.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive Languages Fund can be used to fund overseas travel for the purpose of learning a language. In addition, the Scottish Executive provides the British Council Scotland with £310,000 annually, to manage a variety of international exchange and linking opportunities for pupils and students, such as the Comenius Language Projects and the Lingua Programme, which deal specifically with language learning and provide various opportunities for Scottish pupils to travel in Europe.

Education

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many secondary schools do not have a separate and discrete modern studies department.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many secondary schools operate a faculty system for social sciences.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average size is of a modern studies department.

Peter Peacock: The information requested is not held centrally.

Education

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for modern studies teachers and, of these, how many have existed for more than one year.

Peter Peacock: Information on the number of teacher vacancies is published in the Statistics Publication Notice entitled "Results of the Teacher Workforce Planning for 2004-05" published on 24 February 2004. A copy can be found on the Scottish Executive website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00322-00.asp.

  No local authority has reported a modern studies vacancy lasting for more than one year.

European Union

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to consult the Parliament on the role of legislatures in any operation of the subsidiarity early warning mechanism within the United Kingdom, as currently defined in the Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality of the European Union’s draft treaty establishing a constitution for Europe (the Subsidiarity Protocol) and what its position is on the statement attributed to Dr Denis MacShane MP, Minister of State (Europe), in The Financial Times of 12 April 2004, that Her Majesty's Government was considering raising in the current Inter-Governmental Conference the possibility of strengthening the subsidiarity early warning mechanism available to member states’ national parliaments by deleting the word "maintain" from paragraph 6 of the Subsidiarity Protocol, therefore meaning that the European Commission would no longer be able to proceed with a legislative proposal, but would have to amend or withdraw it, if reasoned opinions were made that represented one-third of all the votes allocated to the member states’ national parliaments.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive supports Her Majesty’s Government in seeking the establishment of an effective subsidiarity early warning mechanism. Following the agreement of a Constitutional Treaty, the Scottish Executive will work closely with the Parliament to develop a framework within which the subsidiarity mechanism can operate effectively in the UK.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a presumption that the owners of the publicly-funded new linkspan, being built as part of the new Dunoon pier breakwater, and the existing publicly-funded linkspan at Gourock Pier will have rights and obligations to give priority of access to any new operator, including Caledonian MacBrayne, in preference to Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd, who already have their own existing berthing facilities at Hunters Quay and McInroys Point, if such a new operator wished to compete against Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd by providing an unsubsidised vehicle-carrying ferry service between Gourock and Dunoon.

Nicol Stephen: Argyll and Bute Council will be the owners of both linkspans at Dunoon Pier and it will be for the Council as harbour authority to determine appropriate berthing arrangements for any shipping operators that may wish to use them. The existing linkspan at Gourock will be owned by CalMac VesCo and will be made available to the operator providing the Gourock to Dunoon service following the proposed tendering exercise.

General Practitioners

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review community hospital provision following the introduction of the new GP contract.

Malcolm Chisholm: We plan to develop a strategy for community hospitals in line with the Partnership Agreement commitment; "We will develop the important role of Community Hospitals and develop a strategy for sustaining small, rural and community hospitals where they are safe and effective, including the provision of minor surgery and to act as a resource to GPs." We will be informing the development of the strategy by initiating a comprehensive review of community hospital provision; this review will begin shortly.

Holyrood Inquiry

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who has been awarded the contract to publish the report of the Holyrood Inquiry.

Patricia Ferguson: Arrangements for the publication of the Holyrood inquiry report are a matter for Lord Fraser.

Housing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding policies in other European nations with regard to local people purchasing or renting rural properties in their local area and how such information may be used to inform its policy-making processes.

Ms Margaret Curran: Through the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 the Executive has promoted sustainable development throughout rural Scotland, diversity in land ownership and the involvement of local communities in decisions that affect their futures. The proposals in the act were informed by studies of current practices in relation to land ownership in a number of European member states, and by responses to consultation from outwith Scotland.

  The Executive will continue to monitor practices in other countries when developing its future land reform policies. It does not routinely collect information on European practice in relation to more specific and detailed aspects of buying and renting land and property.

Legislation

David McLetchie (Edinburgh Pentlands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent legislation has been repealed by the Parliament and not subsequently re-enacted in substantially the same terms, giving details of each repealed provision.

Patricia Ferguson: Information is not held in the form requested. However, all Acts of the Scottish Parliament are published on the Scottish Parliament’s website:

  www.scottish.parliament.uk/bills/index.htm.

Livestock

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers are currently receiving payments under the Chernobyl Sheep Compensation Scheme, broken down by local authority area, and what the gross value of payments in respect of this scheme was in each of the last five years.

Ross Finnie: There are still 14 farms in Scotland under restriction and receiving payments under the 1986 Sheep Compensation Scheme. These farms are located in:

  

 East Ayrshire Council Area
 10


 East Renfrewshire Council Area
 1


 Stirling Council Area
 3



  The gross value of payments in each of the last five years is as follows:

  

 1999-2000
 £65,269.80


 2000-01
 £66,998.00


 2001-02
 £60,730.80


 2002-03
 £87,690.10


 2003-04
 £54,579.90

Local Government in Scotland Act 2003

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the powers to advance well-being, granted to local authorities under Part 3 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 could be applied by local authorities when making decisions on planning applications.

Mr Andy Kerr: The power to advance well-being is an enabling measure available to local authorities: it is for the local authority to decide whether any particular action would be likely to promote or improve the well-being of its area and/or persons in it.

  The exercise of the discretion of planning authorities in considering planning applications is regulated by planning law, including the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and related subordinate legislation. The Executive does not consider that it would be necessary or appropriate for the power to advance well-being to be relied upon by any local authority in the exercise of that discretion.

  Planning guidance makes clear that it is expected that development proposals that are in accordance with local plans will be granted planning permission. Local plans are expected to be responsive to local needs and to promote change in the wider interests of the community. To that extent, local authorities, in making decisions on planning applications, already take into account the welfare of local communities.

  Section 21 of the act requires local authorities to have regard to guidance issued by Scottish ministers about the use of the power. Such guidance was issued in April 2004 (The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003: Power to Advance Well-Being Guidance): chapter 2 explains the power and chapter 3 describes the framework of safeguards put in place under section 22 of the act. The guidance may be found on the Executive’s internet site at the following address:

  www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/localgov/pawbg-00.asp.

Marine Environment

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated number of seals within Scottish waters is; what tonnage of fish has been taken by them in the last three years, and whether it has any plans to introduce contraception to limit growth in seal numbers.

Allan Wilson: The latest estimate of seal numbers in Scottish waters is around 100,000 grey seals and a minimum of 30,000 common seals.

  The total annual tonnage of fish eaten by Scottish seals depends on the species involved but is likely to lie between 179,000 and 253,000 tonnes, with a significant proportion of this consisting of non-commercial species.

  The population of common seals is relatively stable and the number of grey seal pups being born appears to be stabilising. There are currently no plans to introduce contraceptive measures to control the Scottish seal population but the Scottish Executive will continue to assess the potential of any such measures on an on-going basis.

Museums

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when National Museums of Scotland expects to complete arrangements for the public display of Scotland’s Concorde and what temporary arrangements have been made to enable visitors to the Museum of Flight at East Fortune to view the restoration of the airliner.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for the National Museums of Scotland who will announce the precise timetable once a programme for all of the works has been finalised.

  Concorde has already been made available to the public at various times over the past few weeks. Members of the public are able to see the aircraft every afternoon and as no further work will be taking place for the next few weeks the public are currently able to stand at the entrance to the hangar to see the aircraft.

NHS Funding

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive who will serve on the body reviewing the Arbuthnott formula.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is not yet known who will serve on the body which is being set up to review the Arbuthnott formula.

NHS Funding

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take evidence from every NHS board during the review of the Arbuthnott formula and whether this evidence will be published.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is a matter for the body which is being set up to review the Arbuthnott Formula to determine. In accordance with the Executive’s Code of Practice on Access to Information, I would anticipate that if evidence is sought it will be published.

National Health Service

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7643 by Mr Malcolm Chisholm on 4 May 2004, what guidance it issues to NHS boards to prevent Agenda for Change being used for the purpose of achieving savings.

Malcolm Chisholm: Agenda for Change is about both investing in NHS staff to recognise the contribution they make to NHSScotland, and progressing the modernisation and reform of key public services.

  No guidance has been issued by the Scottish Executive to NHS boards in relation to the use of Agenda for Change to achieve savings.

Postal Services

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the effect of the withdrawal of the second post on small businesses.

Allan Wilson: Royal Mail, post offices and postal services are reserved to the UK Government. The Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) as independent regulator, has responsibility for ensuring that postal operators including Royal Mail meet the needs of their customers throughout the UK. Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, is responsible for ensuring that customers get the best possible service at realistic prices and investigates concerns at a local level on issues such as problems on a delivery round.

Prison Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33583 by Mr Jim Wallace on 10 February 2003, what the total delegated budget has been for each prison and young offenders’ institution in each of the last three financial years and the present financial year to date and what the expenditure out-turn has been in each case.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The following table gives the information for 2002-03 and 2003-04.

  For 2000-01 and 2001-02, I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-33583. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

  

 
 2002-03
 2003-04


 Budget
(£ Million)
 Outturn
(£ Million)
 Budget
(£ Million)


 HM Prison Aberdeen
  6.0
  6.0
  6.3


 HM Prison Barlinnie
  25.1
  25.0
  25.5


 HM Prison Castle Huntly
  3.1
  3.1
  3.1


 HM Prison Cornton Vale
  9.2
  9.2
  9.5


 HM Prison Dumfries
  5.6
  5.6
  5.7


 HM Prison Edinburgh
  19.2
  19.4
  24.6


 HM Prison Glenochil
  17.4
  17.1
  19.0


 HM Prison Greenock
  7.4
  7.4
  7.6


 HM Prison Inverness
  4.0
  4.0
  4.2


 HM Prison Kilmarnock
  13.1
  12.7
  13.9


 HM Prison Low Moss
  7.4
  7.2
  10.1


 HM Prison Noranside
  2.9
  2.9
  2.9


 HM Prison Perth
  17.5
  17.2
  20.4


 HM Prison Peterhead
  8.8
  9.1
  9.0


 HM Prison Polmont
  13.7
  13.9
  19.4


 HM Prison Shotts 
  17.9
  17.0
  17.1



  Outturn figures for 2003-04 are not yet available.

Renewable Energy

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in respect of the assessment of the Royal Academy of Engineering that wind power generation, with the necessary back-up, is two and a half times more expensive than the cheapest conventional alternative.

Lewis Macdonald: Research conducted by OXERA for the DTI Renewables Innovation Review, published in March this year, cites current prices for onshore wind of 3.1 pence per unit (per KiloWatt hour), dropping to 2.7 pence per unit (per KiloWatt hour) by 2010.

  Our policy is that Scotland’s future energy needs should be met by a balance of technologies, including less intermittent renewables technologies such as biomass and marine energy.

Roads

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the dualling of the A90 north of Aberdeen to improve road safety and economic activity.

Nicol Stephen: We have no current plans to dual the single carriageway sections of the A90 north of Aberdeen. An appraisal of the stretch of the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty has recently been completed, using Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), and we are considering its conclusions.

Rural Development

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how its Education Department implements policy on sustainable rural communities.

Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-7146 on 22 April 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Rural Development

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Rural Voices Action Research Competition will be repeated in the future and, if so, when.

Allan Wilson: Following the success of the first year of the pilot of Rural Voices, a one year extension to the pilot was announced in February 2004. Decisions on the way forward for the competition will be made following the outcome of the current consultation on the future operation of the Scottish Rural Partnership Fund.

Schools

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage Midlothian and the City of Edinburgh councils to hold a referendum seeking the views of parents on whether five rural and six city schools respectively should be closed.

Peter Peacock: The Education (Publication and Consultation Etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 1981 set out the requirements on local authorities regarding consultations on school closure proposals. They include provision for parents and other consultees to make representations explaining their views to the authority. Authorities are required to have regard to such representations before reaching a decision on school closure proposals.

Schools

Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities are bound by Executive guidance when submitting PPP bids for school rebuilding projects.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive Education Department invited local authorities to bid for a share of funding for revenue support for school Public Private Partnership projects in Circular 8/2001 which was issued on 26 September 2001. This set out the basis on which bids were to be submitted and would be assessed.

Schools

Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what weight is given to the results of public consultations when considering PPP bids for school rebuilding projects.

Peter Peacock: It is for local authorities to determine their own capital investment priorities, including the content of any PPP projects. In doing so, they will take a wide range of factors into account.

Schools

Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any circumstances that would permit local authorities to disregard the results of surveys and public consultations undertaken to establish where the most need is in respect of the provision of new schools.

Peter Peacock: The Education (Publication and Consultation Etc)(Scotland) Regulations 1981 set out the consultation requirements on any proposal by a local authority to provide a new school. Where consultation is required on a particular proposal, section 22A of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 provides that the authority shall not reach a decision on it without having regard to any representations made to them by persons they are required to consult.

Schools

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated how many products sold in vending machines in schools contain no additives or colourants, either natural or chemical, as part of its healthy eating programme for schools.

Peter Peacock: Scottish education authorities have responsibility for the provision of vending machines in schools. Hungry for Success, the Scottish Executive’s healthy eating strategy for schools, is working with authorities to create a local framework within which sensible decisions can be taken at a local level to promote healthier and more attractive school food. As part of the implementation of this strategy, schools are expected to end the promotion of unhealthy snacks and drinks by the end of 2004 (primary and special schools) and 2006 (secondary schools).

Schools

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much of the profits from vending machines in schools is being used to make up any shortfall in the funding of schools.

Peter Peacock: As Scottish education authorities have responsibility for the provision of vending machines in schools, information on the uses to which any potential profits may be put is not collected centrally.

Tartan Day

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to write to American and Canadian state and provincial legislatures in advance of Tartan Day 2005, specifying and quantifying any support that could be forthcoming from it to facilitate Tartan Day events.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive has no such plans to do so at present. Plans for the Executive’s participation in Tartan Day will be taken forward in line with the ministerial priorities identified and in discussion with members of the Tartan Day Working Group in due course.

Teacher Training

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to raise awareness of dyslexia among students undergoing initial teacher training.

Peter Peacock: The Executive publication The Standard for Initial Teacher Education in Scotland  details the broad range of skills and attributes that programmes of initial teacher education are designed to enable student teachers to acquire. These include the expectation that by the end of the programme, students will demonstrate the ability to identify and respond appropriately to pupils with difficulties in, or barriers to, learning (including but not limited to dyslexia) and recognise when to seek further advice in relation to their special educational needs. These abilities are then further developed, as required, during the induction period and thereafter through continuing professional development (CPD) and/or option modules on Chartered Teacher Programmes. The national register of providers of CPD, which can be viewed at http://www.gtcs.org.uk/gtcs/nat_reg_prog_search.aspx, indicates that a range of providers offer relevant programmes.

Teachers

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the participation rates in the chartered teacher programme are in each local authority.

Peter Peacock: The numbers of teachers who have registered interest in undertaking the Chartered Teacher programme and have received certificates of eligibility from the General Teaching Council for Scotland, are shown in the following table. Information on current levels of participation is not held centrally and will not be available until after University Examination Board meetings, which normally take place in June.

  

 Local Authority
 Secondary Education
 Primary Education


 Aberdeen City 
 127
 157


 Aberdeenshire
 146
 163


 Angus
 65
 46


 Argyll and Bute
 56
 59


 City of Edinburgh
 183
 204


 City of Glasgow
 316
 351


 Clackmannanshire
 31
 23


 Dumfries and Galloway
 87
 85


 Dundee City
 71
 58


 East Ayrshire 
 67
 84


 East Dunbartonshire
 96
 99


 East Lothian
 38
 54


 East Renfrewshire
 84
 79


 Falkirk
 87
 94


 Fife
 254
 270


 Highland
 157
 126


 Inverclyde
 59
 64


 Midlothian
 55
 66


 Moray
 45
 58


 North Ayrshire
 75
 78


 North Lanarkshire
 174
 165


 Orkney Islands
 15
 28


 Perth and Kinross
 79
 76


 Renfrewshire
 150
 112


 Scottish Borders
 54
 56


 Shetland Islands
 46
 34


 South Ayrshire
 77
 96


 South Lanarkshire
 182
 143


 Stirling
 85
 64


 West Dunbartonshire
 63
 52


 West Lothian
 94
 73


 Western Isles
 39
 18

Waste Water

Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its proposals for the voluntary code of practice dealing with odour problems at waste water treatment plants.

Allan Wilson: The proposals for a code are being developed by an expert working party on which both Scottish Water and the Scottish Executive sit. It is envisaged that the draft code will be issued for consultation later this year.

Wildlife

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive  which external officials are preparing a report for ministers on the conduct of recent culls in Glenfeshie and, in particular, the role of the Deer Commission for Scotland.

  The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:

  A dh’ fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba cò iad na h-oifigearan às an taobh a-muigh a tha ag ullachadh aithisg do mhinistearan mun spadadh-fèidh a ghabh àite ann an Gleann Fèisidh bho chionn goirid agus, gu h-àraid, dè am pàirt a bhios aig Coimisean Fèidh na h-Alba ann an sin.

Ross Finnie: The report is being prepared by Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department officials, with input from the Food Standards Agency, the State Veterinary Service and Forestry Commission Scotland.

  The minister has provided the following Gaelic translation:

  Tha oifigich SEERAD ag ullachadh na h-aithisge, le cur-a-steach bhon Bhuidheann Inbhean Bidhe, Seirbheis Lighichean-sprèidhe na Stàite agus Ùghdarras nan Coilltean Alba.